Re: [RPG]: Ars Magica: Fifth Edition, reviewed by sdelear (3/5)
I was surprised by the comments on AM's style, because I think the book looks great, definitely the most attractive and professional looking of all 5 editions.
It's got full-page bleeds out to all the edges, makes attractive use of a second color, and has good layout and generally good artwork (though I don't like some of the more cartoony stuff too, but I think that was a deliberate choice because they could shade it more easily with their second color).
Maybe expectations have just gone through the roof in the last several years ...
Re: [RPG]: Ars Magica: Fifth Edition, reviewed by sdelear (3/5)
I must admit that the art doesn't do a lot for me, and the specific colour was an odd choice, but I love the rules for the most part.
Combat is still a problem, but the focus of the game is magic, first and foremost, so I can live with that.
I have, however, taken a group of gamers who were pretty much wedded to D&D before and are now happy to be playing something with a bit more meat on the bone. I have played AM since the 2nd edition, but the rest of my group are all neophytes and are loving it. Some of the supplements don't do much for us (Covenants, for example), but others have become central to our saga ([I]RoP: Infernal[/I is a current favourite].
In the end, it is all a matter of taste. For our money, AM5 is a good book, a great game, and a lot of fun. Graphics? Nah, not important to a game. Layout? Good enough for us? Rules? Spectacular for the most part. And the other parts we can easily work around.
Re: [RPG]: Ars Magica: Fifth Edition, reviewed by sdelear (3/5)
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShannonA
I was surprised by the comments on AM's style, because I think the book looks great, definitely the most attractive and professional looking of all 5 editions.
Agree 100%. This is a gorgeous book; don't believe otherwise.
__________________ If knowledge of a game's plot would spoil its experience, it isn't a game.
... A player cannot learn of a game's ending without experiencing it, because a game is not a linear object.
—Mike Mearls
Re: [RPG]: Ars Magica: Fifth Edition, reviewed by sdelear (3/5)
Excerpted from the review:
Quote:
A strong link between the games remain in the system if not in the express setting.
Huh? There never was a strong link between the Storyteller games and Ars Magica, and the setting links were weak. As far as I can tell from the review, the only "strong link between the games" in the system is that both games use d10s.
Random references to old World of Darkness games (vampiric Tremere, technocracy, Paradox, et cetera) starting off the review was being targeted to old World of Darkness fans -- but this focus was dropped into the body of the review. In fact, the body was an extremely high-altitude overview of Ars Magica. Not terribly specific to this edition at all, and again peppered with oddly disconnected comments (e.g., "even if that character normally began his career 5’4” and ended it 4’8” "). And finally finishes up with an editorial paragraph or two about gaming pdf downloads.
This was a very strange review.
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Re: [RPG]: Ars Magica: Fifth Edition, reviewed by sdelear (3/5)
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShannonA
I was surprised by the comments on AM's style, because I think the book looks great, definitely the most attractive and professional looking of all 5 editions.
I think it is muddy and ugly looking; kind of like dried blood. Not helped by the fact that the colour keys are off in the copy I have so half the pages feel like reading when pissed out of your gord.
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Re: [RPG]: Ars Magica: Fifth Edition, reviewed by sdelear (3/5)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Jack
I think it is muddy and ugly looking; kind of like dried blood. Not helped by the fact that the colour keys are off in the copy I have so half the pages feel like reading when pissed out of your gord.
Printing issues aside, the layout and design of the book is very nice. Vastly better than 4th.
__________________ If knowledge of a game's plot would spoil its experience, it isn't a game.
... A player cannot learn of a game's ending without experiencing it, because a game is not a linear object.
—Mike Mearls
Re: [RPG]: Ars Magica: Fifth Edition, reviewed by sdelear (3/5)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brand_Robins
You know there really is no accounting for taste.
Not that I care much about the look of the book, as I bought it to play -- but I have to side with those that found it ugly as piss.
As far as everything else though, it's golden.
I thought it wasn't bad formatting, but the writing was undigestible. I read Nobilis with no difficulty, but I couldn't get through Ars5 to save my life.
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